Bill Hess says of his photos, "In the time since I started this Alaska Railroad train project the Engine 557 Restoration Company has appeared in a number of my photos, just as it does here in Picture Three.  The night freight rolls past on its run from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Yesterday, I finally got to go inside and see Engine 557 for myself. My friend Mike Gerenday let me know he would be inside working on the restoration and said I could come over if I wanted. I did want. Here is Mike, in Pictures 2 and 1, working on a valve rebuild and then posing for a portrait.

"Engine 557 came to Alaska in 1944 as part of a massive World War II effort to keep troops, factories and other entities supplied in the fight against Japan, Germany and their Axis allies. The restoration began eight and a half years ago. The goal is to complete the work in time to put the coal fired steam engine back on the tracks for the centennial celebration of the official completion of the railroad on July 15, 1925, when President Warren G. Harding came up to hammer down the Golden Spike in Nenana. Harding died in San Francisco just over two weeks later.

"Those who would like to learn more can find a treasure of information on John Combs website."

The blue and gold that is worn by the locomotives and coaches of the Alaska Railroad is a recognizable sight by railfans, travelers and those who live along the route, but at one time many of the locomotives wore the classic freight scheme of black and gold. From F units to many of the GP locomotives the black and gold was carried across the Last Frontier. After the dawn of the 21st century and the arrival of the SD70MACs, the black and gold slowly gave way to the now current modern scheme, all but three GP40-2 locomotives 3001, 3003, and 3006.

Those who photograph the Alaska Railroad have waited for many years for the chance to see the remaining black and gold sisters to be seen together fearing that time might not come as they could be repainted into the modern scheme erasing the last of the classic Alaska Railroad scheme, it's been over five years since that happened, until February 5th, 2021. On February 5th, the Whittier freight left Anchorage yard with 3006, 3003, and 3001 along with a 7,000 foot long train destined for a date with the barge and northbound freight. Casey Lee Durand and myself (Mike Gerenday) chased this historic train from Potter all the way to Whittier stopping at various places to take as many photos as possible of the classic sisters. The lighting was perfect, the roads clear of snow, ice and traffic which aided in our efforts. The photos taken of these locomotives together may be the last ones taken as they could be repainted before such an event happens again.

With that said, I hope you enjoy this photo of the black and gold sisters on this historic day in Alaska Railroad history. Special thanks to Casey Lee Durand for the camaraderie and the tour of new photography locations. There will be more to come...

I just returned from a wonderful weekend in Indialantic, Florida visiting my wife's aunt. It was almost other worldly to leave sunshine, sand, surf and 85 degree temperatures only to emerge from the airplane four hours later into darkness, blinding snow, sleet, -1 degree chill factor, 30mph winds and interstate highways closed due to accidents. Many thanks to Heath, one of my Eagle Scouts, who drove his Jeep Grand Cherokee to the airport and made it look like child's play delivering us home safely. As we neared our home we encountered treacherous unplowed stretches. I asked Heath, "Where is the road?" He calmly, replied, "It doesn't matter."

Todd Shechter says of his photos (1, 2, 3, 4), "If you wish to use these some time - these photos are of the pre dawn northbound winter Aurora this morning in Anchorage. Temperature was -3F, and just before fog rolled in all over the city. The consist this morning is mixed passenger/freight. Enjoy!" 2/13/21

Bill Hess says of his photo, "It would have been too dark for me to fly Sancho the previous time the Hurricane Turn Train had passed this way.

"As many of you know, the Hurricane Turn Train makes one run a month from Anchorage to Hurricane turns around and comes right back the same day - the first Thursday of the month. It is a flag stop train, established primarily to serve homesteaders and others who live between Talkeetna and Hurricane, where no roads reach. I had thought about driving to Talkeetna but I did not finish what I was working on until 4:00 PM. This did not leave me enough time to drive to Talkeetna before the Turn Trains scheduled arrival at 4:45. But I could get to this place, just south of Willow near Nancy Lakes where the train passes a cannabis shop. I try not to freak anyone out with Sancho so before I launched found a very friendly caretaker and explained what I was doing. She had no problem at all with me using the parking lot to launch from.

"Not so long ago, before cannabis was legalized in Alaska and licensed dealerships established, a cannabis dealer would not have given Sancho and me the warm welcome we received yesterday.

"It was not my intent to shoot another drone selfie, but the place where I stand here was the only spot elevated enough for me to look down the track and see the train coming. To get a good view of Denali, Mounts Hunter and Foraker I had to take Sancho up to this altitude. There was just no way for me to leave myself out of the frame and still get all the other elements I wanted, so here I am in another drone selfie." - Nancy Lake State Recreation Area, 3/5/21.

Two nights ago [6/9/21]: I parked in a wet, grassy area just off a four-wheeler trail a short distance from a railroad crossing a few miles “south” of downtown Wasilla just after 6:00 PM to wait for the 6:20 PM southbound Denali Star. Odds were I could not hear the whistle here. I sent Sancho up, found his spot, brought him back down, moved my car beneath the spot and put Sancho on the roof, ready to fly back to the spot at the first warning clang of the barricade. Mosquitoes swarmed me. A four-wheeled Vector 500 ATV with five young people aboard rolled up and stopped. “Nice drone!” the driver said. “Thank you, nice four wheeler!” Close to an hour later, they came back, stopped and chatted a bit more. At 7:25, I decided to launch Sancho, drain the battery.

25 minutes later, I packed up and went home. At nine I drove to another wet spot a bit north of downtown to try and catch the northbound freight. I parked at the edge another four wheeler trail in another mosquito laden wet spot where I would likely not hear the whistle but would hear the warning clang of a nearby crossing. I placed Sancho on the roof, but decided my car crowded the four wheeler trail a bit too much. I repositioned the car as far from the trail as terrain would allow - two feet. I was about to put Sancho back on the roof when I heard the clang - followed immediately by the whistle - but from the north! Wrong direction! The Denali Star, not the freight, charged into the scene, some three hours late.

I had no time to launch, but thought maybe I could make it back to the first location in time. I packed Sancho back up and drove south, found the Star parked at the station, ready to depart for Anchorage and passed by. My car told me I only had three miles to go before empty. Not enough time. So I turned off at the nearby Dog Wash and parked in a small, empty, parking lot by Toyo Stove and All Seasons Clothing. I could see the train coming. I hand launched Sancho. I did not have to worry about cars as they could not enter the parking lot while the train was coming. Sancho reached this spot at the last possible second. I shot the pic.

What is that odd, tiny car way at the back of this slow moving gravel train? (1, 2, 3)

Is it..? Is it...? Could it possibly be... the elusive... seldom seen... caboose?

YES! It’s the caboose! In only it’s second appearance before Sancho and me since I started this train project over 13 months ago.* This means this is not a gravel train at all, but rather the fabled work train; the work train being the only train on the Alaska Railroad still to tow a caboose. In railroad terminology, which I have gained maybe a kindergarten level understanding of over the past year, this gravel is called “ballast” and it is what is packed beneath and alongside the railroad ties to hold them in place.

The railroad is being firmed up for summer.

I could walk alongside this slow moving train and beat it to the curve up ahead. In fact, after I took this picture, I drove into downtown Palmer, two to three miles away, to pay a visit to Fireside Books to see what I must do to try and persuade them to put both my new book, “The Boy Who Loves Trains, Book I: Alaska” and my older book, “Carrizo” on their shelves in time for the Christmas season.

Wish me luck.

When I returned, the work train had only progressed a few hundred yards. The thought occurred to me I could hang out and follow it all day long and wind up some excellent pictures, but I had others things I to do.

Anyway, there it goes: the seldom seen, elusive caboose.

As some of you may already know, I recently returned from yet another extraordinary trip to The Great Land. Stop yanking on my arm! Yes, I'll add one of my photos as a bonus Picture of the Week. Please settled down! As a tribute to Steward Sterling my wife Terry and I caught the northbound Coastal Classic at Trail Lakes Bridge on July 27, 2021. The Alaska Railroad is replacing their wooden bridges over time and this one is scheduled for replacement soon.

On this trip I switched gears and transitioned from snapping photos to grabbing video as it seemed much more dynamic to me. You say you want proof? Okay, check out the Coastal Classic at Trail Lakes Bridge in high definition. Be careful Skippy as it is 118 megabytes. If you still want to see it then crank up your speakers and click here.

The engineer extends a friendly wave out the window of the 3015 as he takes his train across the TwentyMile River at Portage, Alaska. His train is bound for Seward with fresh vacationers for the Norwegian Sun.

Alaska Railroad "Airport Train" at TwentyMile River Bridge, Portage, AK August 29, 2016

[Webmaster's note: My favorite locomotive on my favorite bridge under blue skies.....what's not to love!]

On Short Time

Here is another oldie from more than a dozen years ago that I took from the tower at work in another life.

Here is the caption I wrote at the time when I originally shared this on RP.

There are more than just polar bears that should be placed on the endangered species list in Alaska. Ironically the 40 foot mill gondola coupled behind the locomotive is the oldest piece of equipment in this string (built for the D&RGW in 1943) but the only one that will likely survive beyond 2009 (at least here in Alaska). The MP15s are slated for sale by the end of this year and all cabooses are being removed from the roster. These four were recently pulled from work train service, and after having their logos painted over and lettering removed will be offered to the highest bidder. The MP15 is shunting them about the Anchorage rail yard just in front of the yard office.

Addendum: the four cabooses here are 1074, 1085, 1091 and 1087. All four of the cars seen here were offered for sale in 2009 for a starting bid of $8000.

1074 is the oldest having been built new for the railroad by Pacific Car and Foundry in 1949 then rebuilt in 1976. It was sold into private hands and survives restored into ARR blue paint on display at the Alaska Live Steamers in Wasilla.

1085 and 1087 are wide vision cars built new for the railroad by International Car in 1976. I'm not sure what happened to these. If memory serves one was sold and shipped to the lower 48 and the other was scrapped down by the port.

1091 is a former Canadian National (CN) car built at Point Saint Charles shop in Montreal sometime between 1970 and 1977 when CN constructed some 548 of these from the frames of old 40 foot boxcars. This car and two others were purchased from CN and refurbished and repainted at CEECO on Seattle before being shipped north to Alaska in 2000. 1092 and 1093 remain on the roster in company work train service while 1091 here survives detrucked and painted red and plopped down beside the Parks Highway up at Ester as a coffee shop.

Anchorage, Alaska
Saturday October 4, 2008

Slide Zone - A couple of GP40-2s lead a short 120S through a recently cleaned avalanche that reached the tracks. As winter fades away avalanche becomes a much more common danger on the line to Whittier and Seward. Although the morning had dawned clear the sun had yet to clear the Chugach Mountains to light this area. Taken on March 29, 2019.

Recent Slide - A couple of weeks ago a slide came down about MP 70 crossed the tracks and nearly reached the highway. I have tried to get a shot of train traversing the slide area but was unsuccessful until now. My first attempt wasn’t quite a success. I am much happier with this shot. A trio of Geeps lead a barge train north a few miles south of Girdwood, Alaska. Taken on April 5, 2019

Yesterday afternoon at Montana Creek Bridge.

In what appeared to me to be the end of their shift, an Alaska Railroad work crew, one with welding torch in hand, walk off the Montana Creek bridge they had been doing upgrade work on.

As I try to limit myself to no more than one train post a day, I was going to save this for later in the week, but my stack of pictures I wanted to post but so far have not grows ever deeper, I decided to post it now. It will be hard to see on a small screen, but if you peer closely through the crane structure near the cab, you will see that this is also a Sancho the drone selfie of myself with Alaska Railroad man Mike Gerenday, who brought me along and took some ground-based black and white photography himself. Check out his Alaska Railroad Railfans page.

The homemade caboose at the back was constructed in 1943 by Alaska Railroad employees.

10/24/21

This morning’s northbound Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train passes between the old depot and Wasilla Lake, Mormon Church in the background. For any newcomers to my ARR thread, the depot was moved from its original location less than a mile to the left over a year ago and is the home of the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. The long range plan calls for a new depot, which in an artist rendering appears to be identical to this one, to be built close by to serve future railroad passengers.

Just as soon as people gain confidence the ice beneath the snow on the lake is strong enough to support human activity, it will be abuzz with snowmachines, four wheelers, ski plane landings and take offs, a race track, ice skating rink, dog teams, sailing sleds and ice frogs who hop from spot to spot and instead of “plop” go “clunk” when they land. 11/13/21

This was the Picture of the Week for the week of December 20, 2004.

As the population of the world continues to increase dramatically, it should come as no surprise to find Santa has chosen an SD70MAC over a sleigh (1, 2) to deliver the tons of toys from the North Pole to all the good girls and boys. Eight tiny reindeer are just no match for a 16-cylinder 4,000 HP work horse with WhisperCab and heated crew area. "Is this an awesome machine or what!" Santa hoghead was heard to exclaim as he highballed it down the track.

Happy holidays from John's Alaska Railroad Web Page! I hope Santa brings you much happiness and good health for 2022 and beyond. -- JC

The End of the Line

It's brutally cold and clear at 11 AM in the morning, but a week shy of winter solstice the sun never rises above the mountains here in the Last Frontier.  In the distance rise the 5840 foot summit of the Twin Peaks of Chugach Range.

I didn't know it at the time...but these are the last photos ever taken of a train at the depot in the center of Palmer, Alaska.  

The ARR's annual Colony Christmas train has arrived at its destination, the historic downtown Palmer depot dating from 1934 and on the National Register if historic places.  The simple wood frame combination passenger and freight station now serves as a community center in which is set up the annual holiday market and fair. This train carried about 400 passengers from downtown Anchorage to this quaint little farming town nestled in the spectacular valley between the convergence of the Chugach Range and the Talkeetna Mountains that rise dramatically in excess of 6000 feet seen in the distance to the northeast.  At the time this was the one and only train that traversed the wavy 70 pound rail here to the outer reaches of this branch line.

With no other business at the end of the branch in town here at MP A6, the ARR couldn't justify maintaining the tracks for only one train a year. For another couple of years after this train's demise the railroad would continue to run a local freight to the industrial park out by the airport that was reached by a spur diverging a mile to the south of here. However, even that ended in favor of transloading and trucking the customer's freight from the yard in Anchorage.  Now the branch sees only gravel trains in the summer that load near MP 3 and special fair trains a couple weekends each August to the new South Palmer depot near MP 5.  

Up until about 1970 the ARR continued east up the Matanuska River Valley to Sutton with a branch up hill to Jonesville Mine, and in the early days rails reached all the way to Chickaloon.  While that right of way is now a nice trail worthy of exploration the rails still remain right here into town.  And though they have been unused for more than a dozen years now hope remains that maybe someday the ARR will return.

This is the opposite end of the same train seen in this photo.

ARR 3014 is a GP40-2 built new for the railroad in Aug 1979 during the halcyon boom days of Trans Alaska pipeline construction.

Palmer, Alaska
Saturday December 13, 2008